Tagged: Audrey Frank

In honor of the 1009 survivors in Katanga, Gitare, Mbege, and Langalanga, Kenya. Have you ever felt the weight? The sheer weight of the destitute, surrounding you, holding on to you, hoping you will take the pain away? Hands cracked with labor, the dirt of hard-hoed gardens under fingernails long blackened with reality. Coats mended so many times the stitches march like uneven words telling stories of terror, loss, and hunger. Feet split and thickened like leathery boats, accustomed to hard earth with no shoes.  Have you ever felt the weight? The mocking weight of foolishness as you stand infinitesimal before immeasurable need? The cackling weight of stupidity as you declare the invisible truths of the invisible God made visible in Jesus Christ to people… Read More

  Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may be spread everywhere.  Song of Songs 4:16a (NIVUK) I live at the moment in a small and simple space on the edge of the Rift Valley in East Africa. The first thing I did when I arrived was drag the wooden desk to a window, where I spend most of my days writing and watching monkeys. I counted 21 last week. I know they are near when the trees in front of my window start moving in every direction. The branches bounce and shake, the fluffy black-and-white tails of the Colobus monkeys making them look like gigantic skunks as they swing from limb to limb, while their friends, the… Read More

For C, with love …Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. Exodus 20:21 I awoke to the sound of hyenas last night. In the darkness, everything seemed wild and terrifying. Anything could happen, or so I thought in the inky black of my bedroom. Are they at my window? Will they devour me? Am I safe? As my focus cut through the heavy blanket of sleep, I remembered the truth. I am in Kenya, there are many wild animals here, but I am safe. The hyenas cackled away as if my realization had them in stitches. In the dark, everything can seem wild and terrifying. Anything could happen, right? Sometimes, even God is shrouded in darkness. He who is the Light, to… Read More

Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” John 20:26b I sit in the early morning light looking out over the pastel surface of the Brussels airport, and I see Jesus. He is here. His gentleness undulates through the mist that sits reverently over the tarmac. I can trace His order along the carefully laid lines and dashes showing luggage trucks and airplanes where to go, and where not to. I hear the crescendo of His longing in the crowds of weary travelers disembarking, reembarking. His kingdom glimmers just ahead of the passport control line like an invitation to a distant country. The intelligence of the One who was there in the beginning resounds in the roar of the jet engine… Read More

Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up. Hebrews 12:3, NET Sometimes third and fourth-degree burns cause severe nerve damage, resulting in chronic pain. The problem for burn survivors and those who love them is that it takes time to know if such damage will be one’s fate. In the months after burn trauma, the miraculous human body produces millions of new cells to replenish the skin. It is after those wounds close and the hope of returning to regular activity rises that the devastating reality often comes: There may be no end to this pain. Pain specialists have carefully studied the relationship between pain and endurance. Research suggests… Read More

For S, and all who suffer injustice. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female —for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-29   But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man… Read More

Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:16-17, NKJV I'm back in East Africa for a season, and memories of my life here over two decades ago are flooding my heart and mind. Before we had children, my husband and I made our home among the coastal Aduruma tribe. I was naive, zealous, and focused on bringing the beauty of the Lord to Africa. How foolish I was, thinking I understood His beauty. What actually happened was the Aduruma became my teachers, and I their student. In the end, the Lord… Read More

for Keith and Hannah, whose legacy stretches across the world. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 I made my way to the hospital To give him your gift today, Not knowing he would give to me The tale of how you gave your life away. To save his little girl, To give her a tomorrow. To feed a village of widows, To comfort them in sorrow. I feel unworthy to have Such givers… Read More

His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:21 The number of secret followers of Jesus worldwide is likely in the millions. The total number is humanly impossible to track, but the Master knows every single one. The persecuted meet in secret because where they live, it is forbidden to follow Jesus. What governments, communities, and families fail to realize is that one cannot stop the redeemed from following their Redeemer. When persecution comes, some rise stronger. Others hide. It is easy to believe from a comfortable distance that those people “over there” are different somehow—holier. However, they would say to… Read More

“I hear the Lord saying, “I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide. So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before. Don’t make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with me!”” Psalms 32:8-9 TPT As we face a new journey, You say:: Stay close to me I will instruct you I will guide you I will advise you along the way I will lead you with My eyes (oh, thank You!) I will take you where you have not been before Don’t be stubborn, afraid, resistant; just come… Read More